What Formulation Should One Choose for Modeling a 3D HTS Motor Pole with Ferromagnetic Materials?

Abstract

We discuss the relevance of several finite-element formulations for nonlinear systems containing high-temperature superconductors (HTS) and ferromagnetic materials (FM), in the context of a 3D motor pole model. The formulations are evaluated in terms of their numerical robustness and efficiency. We propose a coupled h-phi-a-formulation as an optimal choice, modeling the problem with an a-formulation in the FM and an h-phi-formulation in the remaining domains. While maintaining a low number of degrees of freedom, the h-phi-a-formulation guarantees a robust resolution and strongly reduces the number of iterations required for handling the nonlinearities of HTS and FM compared to standard formulations.